


Fade

by CaptainSatanpants



Category: Naruto
Genre: Afterlife, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Dubious Science, Ghosts, Heavy Angst, M/M, Parent/Child Incest, misuse of shadow clones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 16:04:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17328149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainSatanpants/pseuds/CaptainSatanpants
Summary: "I wanted to go out doing what I love," Shikamaru says, lips curling up as Shikaku kisses his forehead. "You."





	Fade

Missions are troublesome. Missions with Ino and Choji are bearable. Solo missions are top notch because no one cares what you do to yourself locked away in the safe houses tucked in enemy territory. It doesn’t matter if you need comfort, or alone time, or to puke until the smell of blood leaves your nostrils.

Doesn’t matter if you clone the person closest to you to let it use you as it wishes.

“Hey, dad,” Shikamaru whispers to the man in front of him.

Shikaku’s lips cock up in a mournful smirk as he crosses his arms. “You look like shit,” he says, and Shikamaru snorts, pain shooting through his body from his broken ribs. 

“Not like I had time to clean myself deep in Iwa territory,” he says. He leans into Shikaku’s chest and breathes deep. It’s not the same as a living body but when the real one is dead and buried, a clone works in a pinch. And what a pinch he’s in. “I miss you.”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“Shut up.” Shikamaru smiles weakly as Shikaku’s arms come around his shoulders, doing his best to avoid the gash across the top of his back. “You know I miss you the most.” The laugh that rumbles through his father warms him from the tips of his chakra-less fingers to the hole in his side, leading to what he can only assume is the empty cavern that appeared the day he buried the man he loved most in the world. “It’s not the same without you at home.”

“What, apartment doesn’t tease you like I did?” Shikaku asks.

Shikamaru winces at the past tense. “No,” he mumbles. “I ended up moving back in with mom, actually. I don’t know what she’s going to do now.”

“You should sit,” Shikaku says as a cough rattles out of Shikamaru. “Come on, down.”

“Oh, good,” Shikamaru says. He falls to his knees and lets his tattered jacket thud to the floor while he begs Shikaku to keep standing. His forehead nearly touches the ground as he coughs again, red coating his lips. “Just what I wanted you here for. Take off your pants.”

“No,” Shikaku says, kneeling in front of him. He pushes the hair out of Shikamaru’s eyes and tips his chin up to wipe the blood from his mouth. “You know, I thought I taught you better,” he continues. “Never use the last of your chakra reserves on stupid shit.”

“You’re not stupid,” Shikamaru whispers. He nestles his forehead into Shikaku’s shoulder and allows his father to lay him on the ground before reaching for his face. “Come here, daddy.”

“Shikamaru,” Shikaku says. Shikamaru leans into the knuckle dragged across his torn cheek and sighs at the sadness in Shikaku’s voice. “What do you need?”

“I just wanted to go out doing what I love,” Shikamaru says, lips curling up as Shikaku kisses his forehead. “You.”

“Always did have quite the appetite.” Shikaku runs a hand down Shikamaru’s chest, avoiding the tears and blood until he reaches the pants that are already unbuttoned. “Planning on joining me in the afterlife, then?”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru gasps as a sudden burst of pain flashes through him when his elbow hits a supply box. “Always said we were gonna run…”

“That we did,” Shikaku says. 

Shikamaru’s already half hard, adrenaline and the heat of battle coursing through his veins as he stares at the ceiling fighting to stay conscious. He presses up into Shikaku’s palm and tries not to let the tears seep out from his eyelids. “Touch me, please,” he whispers, gratefully latching on to the thumb Shikaku presses against his lips. “I miss you. I love you.” 

“Shh,” Shikaku soothes. Shikamaru takes all he can, which doesn’t amount to much as he tries not to clench his jaw in pain. He gives up on the tears now--there’s not point, he’s not going for a dignified death--and grabs hard at Shikaku’s arm as death draws near. “You can go,” Shikaku says softly. “It’s okay. I’ll be waiting.”

“You’re already h-here,” Shikamaru says. There’s two now, the clone slowly stroking him and the one behind him, a ghost smiling over the sight. “Y-you haven’t aged a day, dad.” He reaches for the ghost who comes over to kneel beneath his head. It feels nearly corporeal and he chokes, spitting out the clone’s thumb as blood dribbles to the floor. “I see it,” he whispers. The light from the window is coalescing into a hole in the floor that draws him in as if he could sink into it, stop this madness. “There’s a l--” his arm falls to the wood-- “ligh-light.”

“Go, boy,” Shikaku says. He pauses his hand only to begin again at Shikamaru’s broken noise and pulse of his hips, chasing one last moment of bliss. “You can do it,” he whispers. “Come to daddy, Shikamaru.”

The void is calling. It looms in the way the shadows pool around the door and in the way his father’s pupils dilate while he looks down upon his dying lover. His dying son. Shikamaru can no longer make a sound--all effort has been redirected to his length as he attempts to struggle weakly up into Shikaku’s grasp. Everything’s grey now, but that’s all right because Shikamaru’s being held close enough to lose himself in his father’s arms. 

He wants to stop it all, go back and rewind to the days when they simply laid and watched the clouds together. Things were brighter when everything began. He wants to hold on and live another day because now he’s  _ scared _ , darkness creeping in around the grey as Shikaku whispers praise over him as he did so long ago. He’s scared and wants to curl away from the swirling depths clawing at his soul.

“Go,” Shikaku murmurs, over and over until it becomes a prayer, urging Shikamaru higher until everything  _ stops.  _

His father disappears the second his heart beats its last. The grey gives way to bright white before everything becomes crystal, his eyes opening wide as he registers no more pain. There’s no more blood drying into sticky puddles on his skin and no more labored breathing as he struggles to remain. Shikamaru feels an overwhelming presence behind him and sits up, turning to see Shikaku with arms open wide and scarred face split with a smile. “Dad,” he says, brow knitting as his voice breaks. 

“I know.”

Shikamaru falls forward into his arms with a soft cry as finally, he can hold the  _ real  _ Shikaku again. “It’s been so hard,” he says. He clutches tight as Shikaku’s hand winds into his hair, working out the ponytail so he can bury his face in the long strands. “You’re here. You’re here. You’re here, daddy, stay,  _ please.”  _ It’s all too much as the room fades around them and he begins to rock, remembering the way Shikaku used to ease his anxiety and frustration. “Say you’ll stay.”

“Forever,” Shikaku whispers. “We’ll stay forever.”


End file.
